But he’s got one in sophomore Carter Hewitt, who gave his coach a glimpse of the possibilities here Monday night.

Lanky and hard-throwing, Hewitt took a haymaker of a punch from the first batter of the game — a solo home run off the bat of Easton Barrus — but went about his business unfazed in South Hamilton’s 13-2, 6-inning destruction of Belmond-Klemme.

Hewitt gave up just three hits and struck out 12 batters over five innings of work. Pounding the strike zone continued to be his one weakness, however, as he walked six and had to be pulled due to the pitch limit.

What happens when the youngster learns to control his pitches? Galetich says the possibilities are endless.

Photo by Angela Hewitt

“He’s got a world of potential because he throws about as hard as anybody and he’s only a sophomore,” Galetich said of Hewitt. “His off-speed stuff is pretty good, but it’s his fastball that he needs to work on.”

Coming off a week in which it faced four juggernauts, South Hamilton (9-8) put together the performance it needed to end a four-game slide. The Hawks roped nine hits and scored in five of the six innings. They put Belmond-Klemme (3-16) away with six runs in the sixth.

“We were seeing the ball better in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings,” Galetich said.

Eight players recorded a hit for the Hawks. Cole Berg led the way at the top of the order with a 2 for 4 performance that included three RBIs. Brock Galetich and Zeke Balderas both ripped a double.

Hewitt, Cade Balvanz, Tanner Blue, Freddie Lewis and Quinton Grove added singles. Galetich, Balvanz, Blue, Lewis and Grove all collected one RBI.

Photo by Angela Hewitt

South Hamilton has three regular season games remaining, all on the road. It will be at Madrid tonight, followed by a road trip to Tripoli next Tuesday and a trek to Eldora next Wednesday to take on South Hardin.

The South Hardin game was originally scheduled to be played in Jewell, but was moved due to the South Hamilton softball team’s Class 2A regional game at home that same night.

South Hamilton 13, B-K 2 (6)

Monday at Belmond

S. Ham 121 036 — 13 9 0

B-K 100 010 — 2 3 2

Carter Hewitt, Cole Berg (6) and Elijah Balderas. Devon Geiger, Jaden Warren (5), Max Beminio (6) and Annika Nelson. W — Hewitt. L — Geiger. Multiple hits — SH: Berg. 2B — SH: Brock Galetich, Zeke Balderas. HR — B-K: Easton Barrus. RBI — SH: Berg (3), Galetich, Cade Balvanz, Tanner Blue, Freddie Lewis, Quinton Grove.